Tora Bora

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Tora Bora

Tora Bora (“black dust”) (Persian: تورا بورا ) is an area located in the White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, southeast of Kabul and southwest of Jalalabad, near the Pakistan border. It was generally assumed to contain fortified encampments with an extensive network of tunnels, located between two mountain ridges in a region of cliffs and forests which is difficult to reach by land. The phrase “Tora Bora region” is often seen in news reports, but it is not clear if the name was used before the alleged encampments were constructed.

The outposts in use in 2001 were originally built by extending and shoring up natural caves, with assistance of the United States CIA in the early 1980s for use by mujahideen during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, but several may date back to earlier times, as the terrain has long been in use by tribal guerilla fighters.

In 2001 it was in use by al-Qaeda and was suspected to be the headquarters of Osama bin Laden. It was described variously as a multi-storeyed cave complex harnessing hydroelectric power from mountain streams, or a lower-rise dwelling with hotel-like corridors capable of sheltering more than 1,000. It was also said to contain a large cache of ammunition, such as FIM-92 Stinger missiles left over from the 1980s.

U.S., British and allied militia captured Tora Bora from al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in December 2001. They could not find any massive “underground fortresses”, only small bunkers and outposts and a few minor training camps (see Time article below), as might be expected from an area that provides good defensive positions, but is not well suited as a base for offensive operations due to logistic constraints. Most of the enemy fighters made good their escape to Pakistan in the rough terrain. Indeed, it is not clear whether the Tora Bora area was ever a dedicated stronghold rather than a convenient route to hide and escape from whatever foreign power was invading Afghanistan — such use of the mountain ranges on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border is a tradition among local guerilla forces since at least the mid-19th century.

There were uncorrobated stories of US use of thermobaric bombs (working by inducing extreme overpressures within the cave systems after their explosion) as well as other “exotic” weapons used to kill enemy fighters hiding in Afghan caves like the ones at Tora Bora.

Author Edward Jay Epstein claims [1] that the idea of a vast “underground lair” was simply speculation based on unsubstantiated claims by a former Soviet soldier's 1996 article in a Russian military newspaper which was overblown and hyped by international media and U.S. policymakers.

Former CIA officer Gary Berntsen, who led the CIA team in Afghanistan that was tasked with locating Osama bin Laden, claims in his 2005 book Jawbreaker that he and his team had pinpointed the location of Osama bin Laden. Also according to Berntsen, a number of al-Qaeda detainees later confirmed that bin Laden had escaped Tora Bora into Pakistan via an easternly route through snow covered mountains in the area of Parachinar, Pakistan. He also claims that bin Laden could have been captured if United States Central Command had committed the troops that Berntsen had requested. Former CIA agent Gary Schroen concurs with this view.[2] Pentagon documents seem to confirm this account. In an October 2004 opinion article in The New York Times, Gen. Tommy Franks wrote, "We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time...Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and Qaeda operatives ... but Mr. bin Laden was never within our grasp." Franks, who retired in 2003, was the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan at the time.

As of October 2006, there were reports of plans to convert Tora Bora into a US$10 million holiday destination for 'the most intrepid tourists'. Local governor, Gul Agha Sherazi, said that with this venture he hoped that Tora Bora would become world-famous not for its association with terrorism but for tourism. He claimed that the area was now '100 percent safe'.^[1]